1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a spinning reel, and more particularly a spinning reel including a bail extending between a pair of arm portions of a rotor rotated by a handle, a toggle mechanism for maintaining the bail at either a takeup position and an open position, an anti-reverse mechanism having a ratchet wheel attached to a component rotatable with the rotor and a ratchet claw engageable with the ratchet wheel, and a contact portion attached to a reel body and contactable with a side face of an arm lever supporting a line guide roller of the rotor only when the bail is set to the open position, the anti-reverse mechanism having its rotation-preventing phase so set as to allow engagement between the ratchet wheel and the ratchet claw when the contact portion is placed in contact with or adjacent the arm lever.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, the spinning reel having the above-described construction is used for a baitcasting. In operation, for casting a fishing gear, rotation of the rotor in a line retrieving direction is restricted through the contact between the arm lever and the contact portion. Further, reverse rotation of the rotor in a line feeding direction is prevented by the anti-reverse mechanism, thus preventing inadvertent rotation of the rotor during the line casting operation.
That is, when a fishing rod attached with the spinning reel is swung, a strong force may act on the handle for urging it to rotate in the line retrieving direction, depending on the current posture of the handle. And, the rotor too is subjected to a strong rotating force in the line retrieving direction. Then, if a large gap is present between the arm lever and the contact portion, the inertial force of the rotor may accidentally switch over the bail to its takeup position.
The anti-reverse mechanism of the above type is known from e.g. a Japanese published utility model No. 63-64.
Referring to operational steps for establishing the contact between the arm lever and the contact portion and for preventing the reverse rotor rotation by means of the anti-reverse mechanism according to the above-described spinning reel, this conventional anti-reverse mechanism uses a friction type rotation restricting means. In operation, when the rotor is rotated in the line takeup direction to bring the ratchet wheel and the ratchet claw into an engageable phase relative to each other, the restricting means maintains its condition for preventing the engagement between the wheel and the claw. Therefore, according to this convention, after the rotor is rotated slightly beyond the rotation-prevented phase in the line takeup direction, the rotor is then reversely rotated to actuate the anti-reverse mechanism, thus switching over the arm lever to its open position to bring it into contact with the contact portion.
However, in the course of the above casting operation, the reverse rotating operation of the rotor must be substantially simultaneously accompanied by the switching operation of the bail arm to its open position against an urging force of the toggle mechanism. So that the angler tends to apply too strong a force to the rotor which actually needs to be operated delicately. As a result, the rotor may be improperly displaced from where it should be. Therefore, the convention has room for improvement in terms of handling ease.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved spinning reel which can solve the above problems of the prior art. With the invention's reel, the operation for setting the rotor to the non-rotatable condition is significantly facilitated.